Ok this is weird. After researching the family origins of the man who “unlawfully seduced” my 17 year old 3x great grandmother, Laura Byars (see previous post) I followed his mother’s line back two generations to the Shipley’s of Maryland. This rang a bell. On my mother’s side I remembered tracing my Grandma Carroll’s mom’s line back to Shipleys in Howard, Maryland. Going back a couple more generations and the two trees ran right into each other. The first Shipley to come to America was born in York England in 1650, and fittingly, his name was Adam. Adam had these two sons, Richard B 1677 and Robert B 1678. Following Richard’s family back a hundred years I get to the Kentucky Barnes / Hatton/ Hendricks family of my maternal grandmother. While Robert’s family had led me there via Sam Thompson, the man who swore in court he wasn’t the father of my 2x great grandfather on my Dad’s side. (Spoiler alert – he lied. I have DNA matches through his son and sister).
